


Mrs Rhodes' Boys

by AssvengersArsemble



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Friends to Lovers, M/M, Time Skips
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-01
Updated: 2016-11-01
Packaged: 2018-08-28 13:03:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,139
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8447017
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AssvengersArsemble/pseuds/AssvengersArsemble
Summary: Roberta Rhodes watched Tony Stark grow up alongside her son and she is incredibly proud of both her boys. - Happy RhodeyTony November!!





	

The first time Tony Stark meets Roberta Rhodes, he fits in her son’s shadow. He’s a slight and weedy looking kid with a shy smile that says this is the first time he’s met a friend’s family. James is a good head taller than his new friend and a bit bulkier, from years of playing soccer and other sports.

The boy, heir to one of the richest legacies in the world, is somehow unimposing for what Mrs Rhodes expected. He’s wearing jeans and an oversized MIT hoodie, though it looks like it was probably the smallest size they came in. 

“I’m Anthony. Anthony Edward Stark,” he says, with an air of confidence that says this is something that he’s recited many times, but that contradicts the way one hand is nervously holding his other slackened arm.

“I know who you are, Tony,” she says reassuringly, “Can I call you Tony?”

Tony nods sharply and curtly.

There’s a black car parked just behind the chauffeur-driven car the boys arrived in, with two men in dark suits and sunglasses sitting in it, which she assumed were the young Stark’s bodyguards. 

“Your friends can come in for dinner, I made plenty extra.”

“They just stay in the car,” he says distantly.

Roberta smiles softly at the whisp of a boy as she throws the door fully open, inviting the two teenagers inside. She hears their footsteps thundering up the stairs as she shuts the door over. 

 

Mrs Rhodes watches as Tony grows from a shy quiet boy into a bold public figure. She remembers his confidence growing around the Rhodeses from one visit to another, he gets more and more familiar, he becomes a member of the family. She notices when the looks between her son and Tony change, when hands are being held until other people enter the room, when the pull out bed in James’ room stops coming out when Tony stays. By the time James tells her that he and Tony are dating she’d known for months. He wrings his hands nervously and keeps his head down, until she tilts his head up by the chin and says that she couldn’t have hoped for him to be with a nicer boy.

 

James and Tony graduate with top ranks in their classes. James is the pride of the Rhodes family. He’s fast-tracked into the ranks of the Air Force and works as the liaison with Stark Industries. He achieves his childhood dream of being a pilot.

 

She sees in the news before James even has a chance to tell her. He phones in tears and says “Maria was such a nice lady.” He makes no mention of Howard. He shows up hand in hand with Tony after a few days, from one of the same fancy black cars that first dropped them off at her house. Roberta sits them down and shoves a hot chocolate into each of their hands. 

“Never too old for a Robbie Rhodes hot cocoa,” she says, gently rubbing Tony’s arm as she stands away, fully taking in the sight of him. 

Tear-streaked cheeks, puffy red eyes, the way he was posturing himself was so small. A way she had not seen him in over five years. He nods gently and her heart clenches for the young man with so much weight on him. 

“Thanks, mom,” James says quietly, a sad and grateful smile on his lips.

She leaves them to each other’s company and a few days later she watches sadly as Tony has to make a statement on national television.

 

“When will you make an honest man out my son, Anthony?”

 

They get unofficially married in secret before James turns 30. It’s the same church Roberta married Terrance in. The vicar knows the family and agrees to preside over the ceremony as a favour. The entire Rhodes extended family is there. The Stark aisles are more sparse. A tall older man with an English accent and his wife sit at the front, beside a pretty young redhead who Roberta knows as Tony’s PA and an old Englishwoman who gives Tony’s hand a gentle squeeze before he stands to the altar.

The ceremony was calm and traditional, something it seemed that Tony had insisted on. The reception was the a loud and enthusiastic Rhodes affair. The only thing that seemed fitting of Tony’s public image was the pair being whisked away around 2am as the party wound down, straight to a private jet to some beautiful island paradise for several weeks of an idyllic honeymoon.

 

James calls her, choked with tears. Tony’s missing in Afghanistan after an ambush on their convoy.

“My god, mom, he could be dead.”

 

Roberta berates them both when they eventually get back to the States. 

“My heart can’t take the strain of you boys,” she addresses the couple. 

“Don’t worry, I’ll look after him from now on,” Tony says with a small grin.

James rolls his eyes.

 

In the course of a year everything changes. Most mothers don’t have to deal with both their son and their son-in-law becoming superheroes. It was certainly a turn-up for the books, but really James and Tony could never really shock her. She’s immensely proud of the heroes her boys had become. Even if it played sweet hell with her blood pressure.

 

Don’t Ask Don’t Tell got repealed and the pair are immediately out and proud. Roberta is proud of them too. Tony gushes to any reporter who’ll listen, James by his side with a loving grin.

 

The whole world changes over recent years. Aliens. Superhumans. Demigods. 

Her son at the centre of it with his husband by his side. They still make time to show up for every Thanksgiving and Christmas. Tony and Rhodey always bring science and engineering gifts for their niece Lila. Roberta always berates them about the mess Lila makes, but she’d never stop her following in their footsteps. She’s definitely more sensible than them anyway. 

 

When same-sex marriage becomes legal Roberta insists on them being remarried, officially this time. They didn’t take much convincing. 

Both sides of the church had changed drastically, with faces come and gone. The Englishman and his wife, and the kind woman who squeezed Tony’s hand were gone. In their seats were an odd selection of people that Roberta knew as the Avengers. The Rhodes side still headed by Roberta and Terrance, and with Lila giving James a thumbs up as he said his vows.

 

“I’m so proud of both of you,” she says kissing both their foreheads before they leave the reception, “Do try and stay out of trouble.”

The way things had been going there was little chance of that. Though as long as they always had Robbie Rhodes’ Hot Cocoa to come back to she could always keep an eye on them.

**Author's Note:**

> For Rhodeytony month!! Sorry that it's a bit rushed, short and trails out. But yeah. 
> 
> Thanks to Jihane for checking it all as well


End file.
